The smoke of hispipe floated straight upwards in
still plumes. You gave me presents of gold bangles and silk longyis fromMandalay.
Flory went home by a path that led out on to the maidan.
A boy does not start his career nicknamed
Monkey-bum withoutlearning his lesson.
Nevertheless, beware of hiss calumnies, my
friend.
Come in, said Flory rather bad
temperedly.
Take this muck away and bring some
whisky.
Teach thelittle sod what we think of him. The War
rolled on, like a storm beyond thehorizon. He did not want to seethe yellow, sunken
face that would look back at him. I dont want you in hereafter Ive done with
you.
A mingled scent of sandalwood, garlic,coco-nut oil
and the jasmine in her hair floated from her.
There was the sound ofplunging hooves and of yells
to the bullocks. There had been a nasty, dirtyaffair at the Club that
evening.
She had neverlearned the wisdom of leaving him
alone at these times.
He had bought her from her parents two years ago,
forthree hundred rupees.
Itgives one a deeper sense of sin than a thousand
lecheries.
The snipe were flying southward from Central
Asia.
Flory stood in the middle of the room, yawning. Two
years ago you would have redeemed them for me. In the end the secrecy of your revolt
poisons you like a secretdisease.
From that school he went to a cheap, third-rate
public school. Very likely they willelect you, but theyll do it as an unpleasant
duty, under protest. They might elect you at the next general meeting, he said. On
Saturday nights the older boys used to havewhat they called a Spanish Inquisition.
There is a prevalent idea that the men at theoutposts of Empire are at least able
and hardworking. His parents, goodpeople and devoted to him, had found him a place
in a timber firm.
They were intimate enough to laugh over thedoctors
queer English occasionally. Atthese times she was nauseating and dreadful to him.
Beyond the veranda eaves the light rained downlike glistening white
oil.
Its to come up at the general meeting in June. One
should live with the stream of life, not againstit.
I dont want you in hereafter Ive done with
you.
He had lived in a chummery with four other youths
whodevoted their entire energies to debauchery.